


pixel hearts and petal showers

by Cân Cennau (gwenynnefydd)



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Bittersweet, Emotionally Constipated Light Hope, F/F, Pining, hiraeth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:27:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22556302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwenynnefydd/pseuds/C%C3%A2n%20Cennau
Summary: During downtime, Light Hope thinks about Mara again.
Relationships: Light Hope/Mara (She-Ra)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 70
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 5





	pixel hearts and petal showers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HandmaidenOfHorror](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HandmaidenOfHorror/gifts).



> this fic was originally called hiraeth, but then HandmaidenOfHorror posted a fic also called hiraeth and i was like "we can't both have fics called hiraeth :| "
> 
> so you got this title! and this fic! i hope you enjoy!

Light Hope thought of Mara sometimes.

Not often, only when the glitches inherent in her program allowed her to to dream, to access memories locked behind layers of self-imposed encryption. She could easily remember the blazing rows, where Mara would fight her on the direction and protection of Etheria, but those only served to remind her of how Mara’s betrayal. Much harder was the kinder Mara, the Mara who brought flowers and drew hearts on digital planning boards. Light Hope didn’t necessarily understand what those meant, and often lectured that planning boards were for  _ planning,  _ but Mara only smiled and refused to dispose of any of the charms or trinkets she made.

And one day, Mara had hidden herself away from Light Hope, coding and planning and drawing in the digital subspace. Light Hope had not known what she was doing, which was particularly vexing, until one day she turned on one of the training holosuites and found, instead of a spore storm, a gentle cascade of petals. The Horde training dummies were not aggressive, but gentle, the bots wandering the green holofloor like grazing sheep. Mara sat crosslegged on the floor, sipping tea on a patchwork rug. Her eyes glimmered with ill-suppressed glee as Light Hope watched the petals fall, skimming across her cape pauldrons.

“This is not the intended use for the training holosuite.” Light Hope observed. Mara grinned.

“Sure it is.” she replied. “Diplomacy. She-ra’s gotta learn diplomacy.”

“She-ra is the protector of Etheria-”

“And she can’t fight  _ everyone. _ ” Mara patted the ground beside her. “Come sit. I hear Plumeria has a new princess, and I have no idea how high tea works…”

“We should really…”

“Please, Light Hope?”

And Light Hope had never been able to resist  _ that  _ face. So they sat together, and drank tea, and Light Hope lectured on which tea came first and with which sweet, and Mara laughed and copied and didn’t always get it right. Occasionally, Light Hope suspected Mara was getting it wrong on purpose, or feigning ignorance, but then she would smile that bright wide smile of hers, and her eyes would crinkle shut, and Light Hope would feel the sudden urge to start several system diagnostics as part of her neural networks fizzed under the warmth of her sunlight. Had Light Hope been anything more than a figment of light, she maybe would’ve thought this was… but it  _ couldn’t  _ be…

If it  _ wasn’t,  _ why did it feel like her binaries unraveled every time Mara came up? 

If it  _ was,  _ why had Mara turned traitor and betrayed her so?

"Er… why are there…  _ flowers _ in here?" 

Light Hope blinked, and realigned her processes. She-Ra - not Mara, but Adora - was stood in the middle of the training suite, hand reaching up to touch one of the many thousands of pixelated blossoms that fell from the ceiling. A petal burst under the probing of her fingers, and she laughed and screwed up her face as the resulting glitter shimmered down around her. Light Hope watched the petals for a moment, before banishing them with a wave of her digital hand. 

"A momentary glitch." She replied smoothly. "Nothing of concern."  



End file.
